My portable grandfather refreshes every week

Chapter 298 Xinghai! (Two chapters combined, 6 words)

Xue's Law was learned during the subsequent exchange.

The apostle, codenamed Number 9, was ambushed by the Starfleet as soon as he arrived around the Super Iron Curtain. Although he managed to escape and hide inside the Super Iron Curtain, what awaited him was a frenzied attack from that world, as if it had been triggered by a stress reaction.

Volcanoes erupted all over the world, the world twisted, and all the seawater turned into awe-inspiring water giants hundreds of thousands of meters tall, relentlessly beating him, showing no regard for the billions of creatures living in the ocean. That world seemed determined to kill him.

Even their world's civilization was thrown into disarray by the sudden shock, with the entire ocean being drained and condensed into a terrifying water giant. He now understood why the other apostles had sent people to explore this world.

As for him... he managed to slip away in disgrace by faking his death...

"Rental fee, one fruit." Number 6 seemed to be a very languid woman, speaking very calmly.

Xue Lude looked over and realized that the Shub insectoid race was also a clan deliberately cultivated by an apostle. A cosmic catastrophe-like monster whose entire members were all near-5th rank was actually just a subordinate of a certain apostle in this council.

It's even possible that this Number 6's true form is actually the Queen of the Shub insect race, but she maintains a human form in the council.

"Sure! But you have to guarantee that the soldiers you rent from me will be the highest tier." Number 9 seemed to agree very readily.

In Xue Luding's subsequent observations, he learned what "warriors" were. They were giant insects that blotted out the sky. Xue Luding did not know their exact height under the projection in the Mist Council, but in that projection, the insect's tentacles had already pierced into the clouds.

Like a combination of an elephant beetle and a spider, the insect's every step made the entire earth tremble. Even through the mist, Xue Luding could roughly guess the strength of that warrior.

A top-tier monster among Tier 5 monsters, approaching Tier 6...

For them, such monsters are merely tradable items.

Then let's not even talk about the divine tree. Perhaps the combat power of the divine tree itself is just an extra for them. What they need is the divine tree's ability to absorb spiritual energy, and the fruit it bears that will allow them to truly step into the "6th tier," the legendary level of the Venerable King.

He now understood the nature of this group: a group of people who would stop at nothing to reach level 6, while Xue Luding, a newcomer who had just reached level 5, was worlds apart from them.

From their perspective, a newcomer like Xue Law would need at least hundreds of thousands of years to accumulate experience before he could have the ability to engage in equal dialogue with them.

However, there is at least some good news: even the person who was the first to enter the council has not yet reached the despairing 6th rank.

Possibly the only person to have reached level 6...

Xue Dinglu saw the figure sitting in the main seat, completely shrouded in mist, always in the most mysterious state, as if he were the founder of the Mist Council. He might be a true Rank 6 being.

In other words, an existence capable of successfully eliminating the world consciousness even on the world consciousness's home turf is likely an enemy on par with the legendary King.

However, He seemed indifferent to everyone in the entire council. Apart from explaining the significance of the organization's establishment to Xue Dingli when he entered, He has not taken any other action since.

After it seemed that Number 9 had acquired enough combat power, the entire council once again fell into idle chatter.

However, Xue Dinglu overheard some information that might interest him.

"Number 4, I heard your Mind Flayer breeding base was destroyed?"

Xue Dinglu immediately noticed that there was also a woman shrouded in mist, but she was exceptionally tall, more than three meters tall.

"It's just a minor issue," Number 4 replied indifferently.

Then no further information was provided. Even now, Xue Lude still can't tell which one was once the dragons' superior. He can only determine for the time being that the one who cultivated the Mind Flayers was number 4, while the one who cultivated the Shub insectoids was number 6.

As for the other members, he didn't even know anything about them.

It seems that everyone here is protecting their own information to the best of their ability.

As time went by, this exchange was coming to an end.

However, Xue Dinglu stepped forward at this moment. In front of everyone, he, the disguised "13th Apostle", said: "I have something to say, please listen carefully."

Those who were about to leave the meeting immediately became interested. To be honest, they were also interested in Xue Luding, this newcomer. However, Xue Luding was different from the previous people. He had always kept his information very well protected. So far, the other apostles only knew that he was a newcomer who cultivated the fruit by luck. They knew nothing else about him.

"Gentlemen, I believe that the current classification of Apostles is too general. I personally think that even among Apostles, there should be different levels of titles, representing completely different strength gaps," Xue Dinglu put forward his opinion.

……

Whether it was due to Xue Dinglu's strange charm or not, his speech was temporarily adopted by the other apostles. That is, within the apostle level, a hierarchy was also established, which would provide clearer goals and promotion opportunities.

In fact, over the years, they themselves have had their own understanding of the internal division of the same Apostle level. Some Apostles divide them into upper, middle and lower levels, some assess them in their hearts as Apostle Level 1 to 9, and some only recognize Level 6 and other ordinary Apostle levels. Unfortunately, there is no unified plan, and many people recognize themselves as their own.

It's just that Xue's Law standardized the measurement of this "minor matter" in their eyes.

According to Xue's unified standard, the Apostle level is divided into six levels based on rank: King, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. These represent six more detailed divisions of power within the Apostle level.

A royal-level apostle is equivalent to a near-6th rank, a duke-level apostle is an existence that is infinitely close to a near-6th rank... and so on...

Seemingly finding Xue's criteria for classifying the strength of Apostles somewhat interesting, or perhaps due to the added charm of Xue's speeches, the Apostles, after discussing it internally, began to align this system of titles with their own strength.

That is, the First and Third Apostles were kings, the Second, Fourth, and Seventh Apostles were dukes, the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Apostles were marquises, and the Ninth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Apostles were earls.

Only Xue Dinglu, the thirteenth apostle, remains as the last baron, meaning he has just become an apostle-level being.

Having reached this point, Xue's goal for the day has been largely achieved, but his speech is not yet over.

"There's another matter, esteemed seniors. I've discovered many ways to optimize fruit cultivation because I'm personally cultivating the fruit," Xue Dinglu said in a deep voice.

"How long has it been since any of you have actually cultivated fruit yourselves? I've cultivated it before, do you know how many people it would take?"

"It takes 50 billion people! To cultivate a single fruit, it takes 50 billion beings that have evolved to the 'King' level! If all these people's corpses appeared at the same time, even the Divine Tree couldn't contain them!"

Xue's speech caused the other apostles to frown as well.

It seems they haven't personally cultivated the sacred tree in a long time. Basically, each of them has a large group of followers and a large group of fruit farmers who help take care of the sacred tree, similar to the dragons.

They only need to harvest the fruit once every ten thousand years or so, which is equivalent to Earth time. As for how to cultivate it, they may have had some experience in the past, but after a long time, those experiences may have become outdated.

They're like landlords now, their subordinates have to hand over a share of the harvest every ten thousand years. If they fail to deliver the harvest within ten thousand years, they just have to kill a bunch of the farmers.

“I understand that you harvest the fruit roughly every 500 divine years (equivalent to 10,000 Earth years), but that’s too inefficient. I have a way to halve the harvesting time, or even reduce it by more than 60%.”

When Xue's Law reached this point, each apostle began to sit up straight, seemingly genuinely interested in this plan to increase production.

If Xue's Law makes sense, they will naturally send some of their staff to conduct pilot tests and then compare them with other fruit trees that are growing normally.

"The real solution to make the divine tree grow rapidly is not to relentlessly exploit the lower classes. When no one cares about them and their reproduction and survival are severely tested, that is the key to truly affecting the current output."

"Therefore, the real way to increase the production of the Divine Tree is to make 'them' feel happy, to allow all living beings to live normally, hopefully, and happily in the world. In that case, their population will increase dramatically. Do you know that in the end, the population of a planet could even explode to tens of billions!"

At that moment, the other apostles also became interested. The planets of their ranches were actually similar to the theocracy and the world of beast-eared girls, with a maximum population of just over 100 million per planet.

Furthermore, the recycling efficiency of the dead is very low. Many corpses are eaten by other creatures before they can become nutrients for the Divine Tree, and due to various other circumstances, it is estimated that less than one-tenth of them can actually become nutrients for the Divine Tree.

That's why it takes about 10,000 years for the divine tree to mature once. Normally, a few thousand years would be enough. Ten thousand years is a generous timeframe they give to their subordinates.

Therefore, when Xue's Law explained the techniques for cultivating a planet's population to tens of billions, most of the apostles were actually tempted, even if they only had less than 50% trust in it.

They listened attentively. If it were truly possible to cultivate a planet's population to tens of billions, then the divine tree could mature once every hundred years. Such efficiency would not just double, but increase by tens or hundreds of times.

No apostle could refuse.

Even if Xue's Law is wrong, the loss to them is not significant. When the potential gains are hundreds of times greater, but the losses are negligible, they are willing to try Xue's Law's plan even if it is wrong.

"The real trick is to develop productivity... I'll name this plan 'Xinghai'!" Xue Luding raised his right hand diagonally upwards. "And our real enemy is our greed. As long as we restrain our greed for the first few hundred years, we can at least double our production!"

"The lower class is more willing to have children. The more beautiful and happy the world is, the greater the population growth rate. It can double every few decades and achieve exponential growth in a few hundred years."

"This is the 'Prosperity Plan'!" "Prosperity Plan!"

……

After a long while, when Xue Dinglu regained consciousness, it was already dawn.

After Xue Dinglu got up, a knowing smile appeared on his lips.

Sure enough, his charm value was very high. This attribute was intangible and seemed to have no use whatsoever. It did not improve his combat power in the slightest, but it made all humanoid creatures who saw him for the first time feel more favorably toward him.

However, when this intangible charm is used in a speech, it becomes a true killer move.

He achieved his goal completely: firstly, by labeling all the apostles as "nobles," he could trigger his special attack against "nobles."

Although it's absurd, Xue's Law has tested it, and this special attack works on himself, the "Apostle Baron," so theoretically, it should work on other Apostles.

Even if this special attack cannot actually kill the apostle, it still adds an extra layer of damage. When this special attack accumulates to a certain level, it can truly kill the apostle.

Therefore, Xue's Law's real code name is not "Thirteenth Apostle, A-Guang", but "Apostle Killer"!
After this test, he even developed his own goals.

That is, the Ninth Apostle who went all in on his assets to invade the Super Iron Curtain. He was only an Apostle with the strength of an Earl, someone that Xue Law could definitely try to challenge.

He might even be severely weakened after defeating the world consciousness of the super iron curtain, and need a long time to lick his wounds before he can recover.

Therefore, the time when he was licking his wounds was the best time for Xue Lude to strike, and that was also the first time he tried to kill the apostle.

However, before killing that apostle, Xue Lude still needs to do a lot of preparation and accumulation. Relying solely on the accumulation of "anti-noble special attack" is not enough. At the very least, he needs to stack more than 10 layers of such special attack buff before he can prepare to take action.

The second "Xinghai" plan was merely a method proposed by Xue Dinglu after witnessing the tragic state of two worlds ruled by apostles, aiming to make those worlds slightly better off.

He explained how to develop productivity, how to improve people's happiness, and how to give everyone hope and a future. If only half of the apostles listened attentively to his speech and implemented these plans, he might indirectly save countless civilizations.

Looking at the sky outside the window, today is another hopeful day. Kang thought his speech went quite well.

However, public speaking skills can be improved.

……

"Good morning, teacher!" Xue Dinglu had just entered the living room when he saw Fafnir, dressed in sportswear, returning from outside.

She was dressed in tight-fitting sportswear, with a towel draped around her neck and a dictionary of idioms in her hand. At this moment, fine beads of sweat were still seeping from her head, and she looked breathless.

"you?"

"I went to lose weight, and also to study for the adult college entrance examination next month!" Fafna wiped the sweat from her neck with a towel. Her nimble pointed ears were covered in sweat, and the idiom dictionary in her hand seemed to be wet.

Xue Law: "..."

If you're still at the level of memorizing idioms from a dictionary, you'd probably struggle even to pass the adult college entrance exam.

Although Xue Dinglu has never taken the adult college entrance examination, he roughly knows about it. The difficulty is similar to the National College Entrance Examination Paper III. As for getting into the University of Science and Technology of China, it is definitely easier than the full-time college entrance examination score of 660 or so, but it still requires a score of 500 or above in the college entrance examination. It is not something that can be done casually.

After all, adult college entrance examinations are open to the public, and the value of such non-full-time degrees is very low. Basically, no legitimate listed companies recognize them, and the value of a non-full-time bachelor's degree is no different from that of an associate's degree.

Meanwhile, adult college entrance examinations are designed for working adults, so the difficulty level is naturally much lower than that of full-time programs.

However, it's not easy to get into USTC. A score of 500 on the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) is an insurmountable barrier for adult learners.

Given Fafnir's current level, Xue's Law estimates that she might struggle to even score 500 points on the middle school entrance exam, let alone the college entrance exam. As for achieving an exam miracle in just over half a month?

Xue's Law couldn't be done by himself. He felt that if he studied it, he might be able to go from zero foundation to 500 points in the college entrance examination in half a year, but he thought half a month was too little.

However, Fafnir is a half-elf after all, so perhaps she really has a great advantage in areas such as memory. Besides, she chose to study politics and history, so she can basically get high scores by rote memorization. The only subject she needs to worry about is mathematics.

I can indeed take some time to teach Schrödinger's law in mathematics.

I don't know how Fafnir managed to get that adult college entrance exam spot. She looks like a middle school student at most, and she probably has some strange abilities. But since she's registered, Xue Luding plans to teach her a little when he has time.

After all, he had just finished the college entrance examination not long ago, and he had also received the memories of a doctoral student from a parallel world. This is probably the peak of his intelligence in his life, and his intelligence may gradually decline in the future.

If he were to pursue a direct PhD like his parallel universe self, it might take even longer, but he no longer has any plans to do so.

Right, Xue Dinglu suddenly thought of the parallel world. He really needed to go there to deal with the divine tree on his body, and also to discuss some matters concerning the apostles and mind flayers with the dragons.

The dragons have too much information about mind flayers and apostles; Xue Dinglu only skimmed through it last time he visited.

With that in mind, after recommending some exam preparation books to Fafnir, he skipped his class again and set off for a parallel world, the world of 2028.

……

"Wait, buddy, are you really that good at medicine? Is your medical doctorate just for show?"

"I studied disaster medicine for four years in college, not five years because disaster medicine is only a four-year degree program. Then I did a 3+2 combined master's and doctoral program in clinical medicine at Boston University, and now I have a double doctoral degree in clinical medicine and biology. So tell me, is my medical degree real or fake?"

When Xue arrived, he saw Doctor Xue and another Greek man bickering, while in front of them was a surgical scene where an arm looked as if it had been ripped off and was being reattached.

Just now, the Greek hero seemed to doubt Doctor Xue's medical skills and questioned him here.

“You can doubt my character, but I graduated with a proper 4+3+2 PhD. At most, I only missed a year in my combined Master’s and PhD program, but I immediately got my PhD in biology as well. After my phage paper was published, I am now an emeritus professor at Boston University. Show some respect for my abilities!” Doctor Xue pushed aside the Greek man with great dissatisfaction and began the arm transplant surgery.

“But I saw that Xerath healed this kind of injury with just a touch, while you have to go through all that fancy bone and nerve setting. Why don’t we go find those dinosaur people? Their healing magic is probably better than your surgery,” the Greek complained.

"I've said it countless times, the essence of healing magic is to stimulate cells to divide faster, it can't regenerate severed limbs! If you want healing magic, wait until I've reattached my arm and nerves before you go to the dragons."

The two were arguing and bickering, while the one-armed Greek hero on the operating table slept peacefully.

Xue Lude looked at it and realized that this hero seemed to have been trained by Aphrodite, but he betrayed her later. After all, Aphrodite's reputation had always been very bad, and he was also a hero who died fighting a sea monster on the Sky Thunder.

And now, he has lost an arm.

Upon seeing Xue's Law, the Greek man next to him said, "Xue Diles, quick, quick, cast a healing spell!"

Xue Law: "..."

"How did this happen?" Looking at the severed arm, it was quite gruesome. The entire arm, along with the shoulder, had been torn off, as if it had been ripped off forcefully. It looked painful.

“Alas, recently some plant monsters have learned that we are intentionally hunting them, and they are constantly evolving, now they have even learned to set traps,” the Greek hero explained.

“We accidentally fell into a trap. Before our armor could even activate, Kronas lost his shoulder, and I was shot through the abdomen. We only managed to defeat the enemy after Achilles and the dragons arrived to help us,” he explained, while lifting his clothes.

There was a wound on his abdomen wrapped in bandages. It seemed he was lucky; although it was a penetrating wound, it did not hit any vital organs.

As for the hero named Kronas, he was in a terrible state, losing half of his shoulder.

"Is the combat intensity of clearing out those plant monsters really that high?" Xue Luding stretched out his hand, and the cursed blood began to cover the hero's wounds, while Doctor Xue from the parallel world cooperated by putting the severed arm's bones and muscles back into place.

"Pretty much. The intensity of the battles has been increasing recently, so we are also considering further cooperation with the dragons, which means that each of us will be accompanied by a dragon warrior responsible for combat."

After chatting, the arm was reattached, and soon Xue Dinglu also treated the hero.

"Xue, the car is ready. The negotiations for further cooperation with the Dragon Clan will begin in an hour," Hector's voice came from outside.

　From now on, the daily updates will be changed from two 3-word chapters to one 6-word chapter per day, with the word count remaining the same. This is essentially to boost the average subscription rate of the best-selling chapters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)